There is a TED talk about Odysseus. He is a mariner who longed to hear the alluring song of the Sirens without being pulverized on the rocks. Fortunately, Odysseus used a commitment device. This forced him to follow through on a plan made when he was thinking clearly, knowing that later he would be intoxicated by their seductive voices. Predictably, when he hears the Sirens, Odysseus's rationality dissipates on the breeze. But the taut ropes binding  him to the mast hold fast his life, and the lives of the men in his care. The crew, whose ears are blocked with wax, keep rowing until the overpowering temptation is left behind.

 

Marriage is a commitment device. The golden ring on my finger reminds me, when my memory lapses, that I freely chose to be John's wife. The culture I am sailing through lures me away from monogamy with its beguiling messages. Well, not so much me since I am old and wrinkly anyway, but younger people who forgot to stuff wax in their ears. A commitment device keeps people from crashing into the rocks, and their children with them.

 

The TED talk continues with two computer generated images of one man, in his twenties and in his sixties. The power point illustrates his feelings about choices he makes concerning saving for retirement, in the present and in the future. Immediate gratification coincided with long term unhappiness, while short term sacrifice resulted in long term satisfaction.

 

Diane Sollee, the Director of Smart Marriages, says that a time machine would rescue a slew of marriages, because we could see the long term effects of infidelity. The majority of the affairs that cause marriages to splinter apart die an early death as well.